Lynsey Addario (born 1973) is an American
photojournalist.[1] Her work often focuses on conflicts and human rights issues, especially the role of women in traditional societies.[2]
In 2022, she received a Courage in Journalism Award from the
International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF).[3]
Addario began photographing professionally with the Buenos Aires Herald in
Argentina[5] in 1996 with, as she says, "no previous photographic training". In the late 1990s, she moved back to the United States and freelanced for the
Associated Press in
New York City, only to move back to
South America less than one year later. Focusing on
Cuba and the effect of
communism on the public, Addario made a name for herself. She moved to
India a few years later to photograph under the Associated Press, leaving the United States.[6]
In Pakistan on May 9, 2009, Addario was involved in an automobile accident while returning to
Islamabad from an assignment at a
refugee camp. Her collar bone was broken, another journalist was injured, and the driver was killed.[16]
Addario was one of four New York Times journalists who were missing in
Libya from March 16–21, 2011. The New York Times reported on March 18, 2011, that Libya had agreed to free her and three colleagues:
Anthony Shadid,
Stephen Farrell and
Tyler Hicks.[17] The
Libyan government released the four journalists on March 21, 2011.[18] She reports that she was threatened with death and repeatedly groped during her captivity by the Libyan Army.[19]
In November 2011, The New York Times wrote a letter of complaint on behalf of Addario to the
Israeli government, after allegations that Israeli soldiers at the
Erez Crossing had strip-searched and mocked her and forced her to go through an X-ray scanner three times despite knowing that she was pregnant.[20] Addario reported that she had "never, ever been treated with such blatant cruelty."[21] The Israeli Defence ministry subsequently issued an apology to both Addario and The New York Times.[22]
Addario's recent bodies of work include "Finding Home" a year-long documentary following three Syrian refugee families and their stateless newborns over the course of one year as they await asylum in Europe for Time,The Changing Face of Saudi Women for National Geographic and "The Displaced" for The New York Times Magazine, a reportage documenting the lives of three children displaced from war in Syria, Ukraine, and
South Sudan. Addario has spent the last four years documenting the plight of Syrian refugees in
Jordan,
Lebanon,
Turkey, and Iraq for The New York Times, and she has covered the civil war in South Sudan, and
Maternal Mortality in
Assam, India, and
Sierra Leone for Time.[24] In 2015, Addario published her memoir It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War[25] and
Warner Bros bought the rights to a movie based on the memoir, to be directed by
Steven Spielberg and to star
Jennifer Lawrence as Addario.[26] She also released a photography book in October 2018 titled "Of Love and War".
In March 2022, Addario covered Russian war in Ukraine on behalf of the New York Times.[27] While reporting from
Irpin adjacent to
Kyiv, Addario photographed a
Russianmortar attack on evacuating civilians.[28] The incident was also filmed by Andriy Dubchak, working freelance for the New York Times. They witnessed the Russian forces adjust their mortar fire directly at the civilians and then a mortar round exploded about 20 meters away from the journalists. In the immediate aftermath, Addario took a photo of a group of four victims. A mother and two children were killed and a man accompanying them was seriously injured and later died. She said that the photo is historically important "[b]ecause it's a
war crime. And it's happening."[29] The photo was published on the front page of the newspaper on March 7.[29][30] A few days later, the woman who was killed was identified, and her children who died were her 18 year old son and 9 year old daughter. A volunteer with a religious organization that had been assisting the family was also killed. The woman was an employee of SE Ranking, a software company with offices in
London and
California.[31]
Family
Addario is married to Paul de Bendern, a journalist with
Reuters. They married in July 2009.[32][33] They have two children.[34][35]
Publications by Addario
It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War. New York: Penguin, 2015.
ISBN978-1594205378.
2015: American Photo Magazine named Addario one of the five most influential photographers of the past 25 years, writing that "Addario changed the way we saw the world’s conflicts."[citation needed]
^
abAddario, Lynsey (8 November 2016). It's what i do : a photographer's life of love and war. Penguin.
ISBN978-0143128410.
OCLC923548575.
^Gezari, Vanessa, M. (Winter 2015). "The View from Here". Columbia Journalism Review. 53: 55–59 – via EBSCO HOST.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Saffron, Jen (Winter 2014). "Women of Vision: National Geographic Photographers on Assignment". Afterimage. 41 (4): 30–31.
doi:
10.1525/aft.2014.41.4.30 – via Ebsco Host.
^Thomas, Helene Maree (2016). "Lessening the Construction of Otherness". Journalism Practice. 10 (4): 476–491.
doi:
10.1080/17512786.2015.1120164.
S2CID147112841 – via Taylor & Francis Online.